Trust
by BuddyTheEvilGnome
Summary: Max and the gang meet a Pack of other mutant people from a new lab called The Academy. One of them is an Eraser. Can Max ant the others trust this pack? Read to find out! review too please!
1. Chapter 1

I do not own Maximum Ride sadly. Though I love the books. So far, I don't think I'm going to have pairings, but that might change. Well on with the story.

PROLOGUE

I glanced into the cage next to mine where a pair of yellow eyes stared back at me. I knew what their owner was thinking _only a few more minutes…. _I heard distant footsteps and voices. My heart started racing as I recognized Bella's voice. It was sweet as honey.

"You really think this will work?" A soft girlish voice asked me from behind me.

"I hope so. If Bella knows what she's doing, there's no way this will fail," I replied, confident for the sake of my inmate.

The lock on my cage clicked and me and my inmate - three-year-old Boo - were led out. Boo was a Bird/Human girl. I'm the same thing, but a boy. She has light brown curly hair and big dark brown eyes. She's lived in this hellhole her whole life. I prayed silently as the rest of my friends were led out of their cages that this would work. I glanced at Hecate, a snake/human girl who lived in The Academy almost all of her 14-year-old life. She had yellow snake eyes and her skin was always scaly and green. Her hair was short and black. She gave me one of those I-hope-you-know-what-you're-doing looks before she was dragged in front of me.

The next two to be released from their cages were Salem and Tabitha. Salem was a Tiger/Human girl and Tabitha was a Jaguar/Human girl. They were both 15 and had lived in the Academy for 13 years. They were twins and though I'm sure they looked like each other at one point, now they didn't. Salem had green eyes and black striped skin. She could turn more tiger-like when she wanted, like an Eraser could turn into a wolf, but her skin always remained striped. Her hair was bright red and she loved daylight. Tabitha had yellow eyes, and normal skin. Her hair was jet back and she too could morph. The only difference was she was a jaguar, not a tiger. She wasn't a day person, she was more a night person.

The last to emerge from their cage was Spike. He was a Porcupine/Human boy at age 10. He-like the rest of us-lived here his whole life. He had spiky black hair and dark brown eyes. When he morphed, he got spiked all over his back and he could roll into a ball to protect himself. He didn't like to do that though, because it hurt for him to morph. He said it was like a million needles poking through his skin.

We all were led off down a long hallway. My eyes darted back and forth looking for a certain door. When I spotted it, I gave Bella a nod. She started to morph into the thing we usually feared. An Eraser. When the two Whitecoats saw what she was doing, they tried to ask her why. She didn't give them time though. She struck the one guiding me, Boo, and Spike across the face and we immediately engaged our plan. I Did a 180 turn and kicked one in the chest. I thought I heard a bone crack. I ignored it and got everyone out through the door before more Erasers and Whitecoats showed up. As soon as I was outside I spread my wings and grabbed Hecate and Spike by the hand. Boo spread her wings and darted up next to me. Tabitha and Salem morphed and blended in with the shadows of the forest near the Academy. We had a meeting place all picked out. Now we are on the run. My name is Talon. I'm here to tell you the story of my pack and me.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 1! Woot woot! Anyway: I do not own Maximum Ride. It's a pain for me to say, but it's the truth. Oh btw, this takes place after book 2 so there may be spoilers for those who haven't read it yet. So on with the next chapter!

"Max, I'm tired. I'm hungry. I'm thirsty. Are we there yet?" Nudge said quickly. I was getting pretty sick of this. We'd been flying for only three minutes! Fang and I glanced at each other. This was going to be a looooong trip. We were on our way from Florida to Chicago. To quote Iggy: Who doesn't want to have Chicago Pizza? We were all looking forward to this vacation. There was no School, Institute or IMEX. THANK GOD! At least that's what I was excited about. Gazzy and Iggy were focused on the food as always. Nudge wanted to see The Sears tower. Angel wanted to see Navy Pier. I don't really know what Fang wanted, but I'm sure it was similar to what I wanted.

_This isn't getting you anywhere Max. To save the world, you must start with IMEX. _My Ever-so-helpful Voice said.

"Screw the Effing" world!" I thought, "If the world was so great, I wouldn't be a messed up Human-Bird thing!"

_Max, have you ever thought that you might be a "Human-Bird thing" for a reason?_

"Not really. And I don't plan to ever. So go back into the little hole you crawled out from and leave me alone!" I thought. Stupid Voice. It doesn't know anything.

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Boo was doing flips in the air. I never saw her this happy. We had escaped the Academy and all met up. We were running to Chicago where it was so busy, it was going to hard to find anybody. In other words: We would be safe. The only problem was some of us- like Salem and Hecate- stuck out. Boo and my wings would be hart to hide too. I motioned Boo to drop to the ground for a break. We had been flying/running for about an hour. I saw a forest near a town that we could stop in to get some clothes. Chicago was only about 45 minutes away at the pace we've been going. We all met in the forest and I chose Spike to go grab us some food. He came back 15 minutes later with a giant bag of Doritos, a bag of lemon heads, and a box of granola bars.

"This is all you could get?" Tabitha asked.

"Give the kid a break Tabby," Salem said. "He's like 8."

"10." Spike corrected.

"Whatever," Salem said.

"My name is not Tabby. It's Tabitha. Say it with me Salem: TA-BI-THA."

Salem rolled her eyes. This was not the first time they had this argument. Actually, This food was a treat. We were used to dry bread and water for most of our lives. The only one who had anything else was Bella, because she was an Eraser who could go wherever she wanted. I popped a lemonhead into my mouth. They were really good. I thought about Chicago and how we would stay hidden. I was interrupted by a snap of a twig a few feet away…

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"Who ARE they?" Angel asked quietly, hugging Celeste.

"I-I don't know," I replied shakily. There was a group of about 6. Two bird human things like us, and others who looked like they'd been mixed with some other animal's DNA. Only one looked normal (like a normal human) but I wasn't sure. Nudge took a step closer and stepped on a twig. Iggy winced. In the silence, that was pretty loud. The boy with wings looked up. The others around him heard it too. I motioned the others to go greet them. I had questions. Questions I thought they could answer.

We took a few steps into the clearing and when we did the little girl with wings said, "Talon! Look! They have wings too!"

The boy- Talon- nodded, "Who are you?" He asked cautiously.

"I'm Max," I replied, "and this is my flock. Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel." After I said they're name each person waved. Total cleared his throat, "And this is Total." I said motioning to the little black dog.

"Talon." The boy replied. "This is my Pack. Salem, Tabitha, Hecate, Boo, Spike, and Bella." They each nodded in turn.

"If you don't mind me asking… What happened to you?" I asked.

"Well, probably the same thing that happened to you" Tabitha said.

"Duh!" Salem chimed in.

"No shit." Fang replied. "I think what Max means is WHERE,"

"Yeah, The School or the Institute?" Gazzy asked.

"Uh, neither. The Academy." Spike replied.

"You mean there's another one?" Iggy asked, turning white.

"Yeah, we escaped, like, two hours ago." Salem said.

"Well where are you going? We're heading to Chicago. I've always wanted to see Chicago. How 'bout you? Have you had Chicago Pizza? I've only had Pizza once. It was in New York. I liked New York. I don't think you've ever been there if you just escaped." Nudge blabbered.

"We're going to Chicago too." Salem said, "No, I've never been to New York, but I'd like to some time. I heard the whitecoats talk about it." Salem said, just as fast as Nudge. They were meant to be friends. You could tell.

"Wow. Do you guys know what we can do to blend more?" Tabitha asked, "I mean, look at us. Two of us have wings, two of us have weird skin tones, and I have weird eyes"

I nodded. I looked at Fang who took out a black windbreaker for Talon and Angel took out a Yellow Windbreaker for Boo. I pulled out a black hoodie that said "I love NY" and Salem took it graciously. I also handed Tabitha a pair of sunglasses. She nodded graciously and smiled. Spike and Bella were OK look wise. We decided we would walk to a train station and take the train to Chicago, so we didn't make a commotion flying into, like, the Sears tower or in the middle of Wrigly Field. We put Totals guide dog vest back on and Iggy held the leash. They gave us a little food, if that's what you want to call it, and we started walking. Chicago, here we come.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 2 is up! Unfortunately, I do not own Maximum Ride. **cries in corner** Oh, well. If anybody has any Ideas for pairings, let me know. I don't think I'm gonna have any, but maybe. I might reconsider if people REVIEW hint hint : )

"Wow, the train!" Angel had never been in a real train before. She'd seen them, but never been in them. It made me and Fang feel closed in. I hated it. I don't know why, but it didn't seem to bother anybody else. I looked at Bella suspiously. Something about her seemed Eraser-ish. Iwas probably just over-reaction, but she had the perfect-ness of one.

"Max, when we get to Chicago, where will we stay?" Iggy asked. He didn't particularly like the subway tunnels of New York or the swamps of Florida.

I thought a minute. "We could stay in a motel for a few days until we can figure out something more permanent… That is if we stay long."

That last part got some disappointed sighs. I knew they wanted to stay in one place. I wanted to too, but with the Erasers running around and the Whitecoats, I just wasn't sure.

Iggy was about to protest when we heard a voice over the intercom. All I heard was "blah blah, Chicago, blah blah."

"What?" I asked.

"This is our stop," Bella answered.

I nodded and we all got off the train. I noticed Angel looking at our new friends and it seemed like she was in a trance. She was reading their minds. All of a sudden, she looked scared.

"Max… I need to talk to you…" she said

"Yeah Angel, what is it?" I could tell she was worried.

"That girl, Bella, she-she's an Eraser."

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I looked at Talon. He completely trusted these people. I could tell they didn't like me. Maybe they knew what I was. I figured they had to know sooner or later. The little one went to talk to Matt… Bob… Whatever her name was, I knew it was a boy's name. Then she stared at me like I was scum and went to talk to the others. It's not like I could help being what I was. I had no choice!

FLASHBACK

_"No! Mama! No! I don't want to do this! Please don't make me!" A tiny little girl screamed._

_"I'm so sorry honey… really I am. I-I have no choice! This won't hurt. I promise" a woman replied._

_"Hurry it up. We have to start the procedure." A man in a white coat said._

_"I'll miss you… My Bella" the woman said before she was led out of the room._

_The little girl screamed before she was given a shot that put her into a deep sleep._

END FLASHBACK

That little girl, you guessed it, was me. I wiped my eyes after the memory. That was only four years ago. I was three. Erasers grow much quicker than "normal people" so I looked 15, but really, I was 7. My mom needed money. We had almost none. The Whitecoats offered her a lot of money if she gave me to them. She was desperate. After she learned what they were going to do, they decided she knew too much and killed her. I never forgave them. That's why I rebelled with the others. The Whitecoats deserved to lose their precious experiments. They should all die after what they did to me and my mother. What they put the rest of the Pack through. I hated them all. I would stop at nothing to stop them.

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Iggy walked over to Talon. He sighed, "Max wants me to ask you why you have an Eraser with you."

There was silence from Talons end. Iggy couldn't see him, so he didn't know weather Talon was mad or just thinking. Iggy didn't mind that Bella was an Eraser. If these kids could trust her, hell, he could too.

"She helped us escape. She's not evil. So just leaver her alone!" Talon replied angrily.

"Hey dude, I'm cool with it. Max is just… paranoid. She just wants to protect us," Iggy said.

"Whatever," Talon huffed. Iggy heard retreating footsteps. He sighed. That didn't go well. Max wouldn't exactly be satisfied with the answer either. Great. He was always in the middle of every argument. This sucked.

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"WHAT?" Salem asked, "They dissed my girl? I swear, if we didn't need their help, I would grrr!" She motioned what she would do to them with her hands.

Tabitha rolled her eyes. She was upset by what Max made Iggy ask me, I could tell, but she wouldn't say anything. She tried to hide her emotions.

Bella shook her head, "Don't blame them guys. It's completely understandable why they don't trust me. Besides, Iggy doesn't seem to mind me. That's a start."

We all nodded half-heartedly. I just couldn't believe they actually decided to question her. Couldn't they tell we were friends and that I would trust my life with her? I punched a wall. This was a total waist of our time. We didn't need them. We had our disguises. All we needed to do was get them to give us a couple hundered bucks and we were set for a while. Hecate glanced at me. It was scary how she could almost read minds. She motioned at me to go over by her.

"What?" I asked.

"Fang and Iggy apologize for what Max made Iggy do. They say she can be difficult when it comes to Erasers and Whitecoats." Hecate said.

"I don't care what she's like. We are going to get rid of them as soon as possible,"  
I said coldly.

I heard a gasp behind me. I turned to see Nudge looking horrified at me. She ran to Max and started gesturing wildly. At first I didn't get it.

"Nice going genius," Hecate said to me, "We have an Eraser on our side so they don't trust us, now, one of the little kids just heard you say we're going to 'get rid of them as soon as possible.'"

"Shit," I said.

Let me tell you, Shit, defiantly described this situation.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N -OK guys… sorry this is taking so long… the next chapter is in progress! I'm going to Florida for 9 days and I'll finish the chapter there (and maybe the next one!) I might be able to update, but it's not likely. Thank you to all the reviewers!

Buddy


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